Birthdays

We celebrated Oma's birthday yesterday and will keep the handmade sign up because J's birthday is just around the corner. I can't believe it!
Hopefully in 2010 we'll buy a new oven and I'll be able to start baking again but until then it's donut stack cakes. I love them!

In the Shop

I added another cot quilt to my etsy shop today. It's made using fabric from the Heather Ross far far away range and pale pink polka dots. I hand appliqued the circles to the quilt and then quilted it on my machine. The double gauze cotton makes it wonderfully soft and cuddly.

My quilts will be available for sale at Allie's Attic on December 12 at Paddington Town Hall at Retromummy's table. Be sure to stop by to check them out and to see the wonderful fabric that Corrie will have for sale.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! I'll be drawing a winner tomorrow.

Giveaway

I spent most of yesterday tidying up the hall cupboard so that I can move my sewing stuff in there. Up til now it's been piled into a green shopping bag next to the couch. Seeing it all piled up on the shelf was a little disconcerting though. I have quite a bit if fabric. Who knew you could fit that much into a shopping bag? So this is a Christmas-themed giveaway to help clear out some stash.

Leave a comment and I'll draw a winner at the end of the week.

Smitonius and Sonata have tagged me so I'll be back as soon as I can think of 7 things you don't already know about me.

Dinner

Pan fried mushrooms (cooked in a little olive oil and light soy sauce) served with vegies and avocado. The kids can't get enough enoki mushrooms at the moment and because their perfume always reminds me of corn I added some corn to this mix.
What's in it? Diced onion, garlic, the diced stem of the flat mushroom, diced capsicum, enoki, green beans, corn off the cob, bread crumbs, salt and pepper along with a little olive oil is all that's on this and it tasted delicious.

Teacher gifts

I'm slowly making a few pencil rolls for the teachers for Christmas gifts this year. Yes, that's more of that alphabet fabric you can see!

I've modified it slightly but I am using the Pink Chalk Studio pencil roll pattern from the Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts book. It's such a gorgeous book, I want to make everything.

At the beach

There's nothing better than getting some sand between your toes on a hot weekend.

Supersize

Dear Santa,
I'll have one of these, please.
I'd appreciate it if you could make it too big to fit on the back of my hand.
Cheers,
Duyvken.

In the Shop

I added another stroller quilt (65cm x 76cm) to my etsy shop today. It's made using a moda authentic charm pack and the colours and typography prints are just gorgeous. I hand quilted diagonal lines using cream perle thread and it is backed with another alphabet print.

I love the backing fabric and am glad I bought quite a bit of it when I saw it at Spotlight.

Answering Questions

I've had a couple of questions lately but some of the commenters have no-reply emails so I'll answer them here. I hope that if you asked me something you'll find the answer here!

CC's comment:
I love the tractor fabric and the animals in the last post. Where do you find such lovely fabric?
Hi CC! Clearly, you have excellent taste. I am sure that I have mentioned before that sewing is little more than a pleasant diversion for me and, as such, I make slow progress with many of my projects. I bought the animal fabric (Alexander Henry 2d zoo) a few years ago from Quilt Fabric Delights. They don't seem to have it in stock at the moment but I did find it here and here.
I found the tractor fabric at the Craft Depot but I can't find it on the website and I used it all so I don't know what it was called.
Some of the places I like to buy fabric are Spotlight, Retromummy and Fat Quarter Shop.
Lynn's comment:
Are you guys officially vegetarian?
Hi Lynn! I know that is just a yes or no question but I am sure you are dying for details (haha) so the answer is 'yes' but there's a little more to it than that. We've been vegetarian for a long time (12 or 15 years?) with a few bouts of veganism but I like honey and I wear leather so I can't commit completely to that although I do admire people who do. Our pantry is full of legumes and the fridge is full of soy milk, we eat vegie meals here at home but Mr Duyvken eats meat and fish from time to time when he goes out (particularly for work functions) and has done so for 3 or 4 years.

Success

6 happy hearts hanging in the shade of the crepe myrtle.
Soundtrack: G, J and C jumping and laughing on the trampoline, JW sitting at my feet crunching leaves between her fingers and the kids over the back fence playing in the pool. All the sounds of a noisy, boisterous, early summer afternoon.